Ralf Dobrizhoffer

Ralf Dobrizhoffer (1672-) was a general of the Holy Roman Empire who fought in the War in the Low Countries during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Biography
Dobrizhoffer was born in Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1672. With the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession with Spain and France, Dobrizhoffer was recruited as a general to command the Austrian garrison of Vienna in 1701. After building up an army with troops from Austria and Hungary, Dobrizhoffer was dispatched to march through Germany and into the Spanish Netherlands. When he arrived, he laid siege to Brussels in 1703 and captured the city by storm. He later annihilated two French armies in the "Death Trap" between Antwerp and Ghent, suffering heavy losses at the Battle of Ghent and eliminating Camille d'Hostun's army at the Battle of Maldegem, both in Winter 1703. He was made the garrison commander of Brussels afterwards, fighting the French and Spanish both.